Joseph Hazel was 20 years of age when he was lost at sea during the sinking of the SS Ceramic. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on January 1, 1922; however, little is known of him until his arrival in Southampton, England in the early 1940’s. He joined the crew of the SS Ceramic and served as an Assistant Steward. Joseph listed his birth place as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and address as 86 Wellington Road, Liverpool, England. This was the home of Edward Powe (b. 1875), his wife, Mary (b. 1875), a son Hugh (b. 1905), and a daughter Agnes (b.1926). Edward was employed as a dock labourer and Hugh as a general Labourer. Agnes was a student and aged 16, 1942. Joseph listed as his next of kin his “friend, Miss Agnes Powe.” Joseph Hazel is commemorated on Page 154 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance and listed on Panel 21 of the Halifax Memorial in Nova Scotia. The SS Ceramic On November 23, 1942, the SS Ceramic, a British ocean liner departed Liverpool England bound for Sydney, Australia via Durban, South Africa carrying 656 people. There were 264 crew members, 14 gunners, 244 military and naval passengers, including 30 nurses of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, and 133 fare paying passengers, among them 12 children. After initially sailing with a convoy, the Ceramic broke off to travel independently toward Cape Town when the convoy was dispersed dur to U-boat activity. On the night of December 6, 1942, while navigating the Atlantic about 400 miles west of the Azores, the ship was attacked by German submarine U-515. Mistaking the Ceramic for a troopship, the U- boat Captain launched multiple torpedoes. The first struck the vessel, prompting an evacuation, but the ship remained afloat until subsequent torpedoes caused it to sink. The crew launched approximately eight full laden lifeboats, despite of the cold weather, the rough seas, and the poor visibility in the darkness, but many were damaged or capsized in the rough seas. The Ceramic stayed afloat and three hours later U-515 hit the ship with two more torpedoes, which broke her in two and she sank immediately. The U-boat Captain reported the sinking to the supreme commander of the German Navy's U-boat Arm and was ordered to return to the site to find the C of the Ceramic and to find out where the ship had been bound. At about midday, the surfaced U-515 returned. At this time, the wind had reached speeds of 55–63 mph and a storm started. The sea was almost swamping the conning tower, so the U-Boat Captain ordered his men to take the first survivor that came close enough to his vessel. Two men threw a rope to one of the men in the water, Sapper Eric Munday of the Royal Engineers, took him aboard and U-515 left the area. Of the hundreds aboard, only he survived and later held as a prisoner of war in Germany. A distress signal from Ceramic had been heard and HMS Enterprise and the Portuguese destroyer Dao were sent to search for survivors on December 9; however, no survivors were found. The loss of the Ceramic was one of the most devastating maritime disasters of World War II. The ship’s disappearance was at first little publicised due to the general censorship of shipping information, and the Admiralty assumed that she had been sunk without survivors. Post war, information became available from the account of Sapper Eric Munday and testimonies from some of the crew of U-515.

Sources: Canadian Virtual War Memorial uboat.net Census Records, England 1939 British Merchant Navy Records